The Paranormal Database

Barbara Palmer, nee Villiers, painted by John Greenhill.

Barbara Villiers

Location: W5 - Walpole House, Chiswick Mall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy, moonlit nights
Further Comments: Barbara, mistress to King Charles II, was once a beautiful young lady, until she contracted a disease that swelled her body to a huge size - her bitter, misty shade walks the house, acting threateningly towards any who see her.

Bar Walker

Location: W5 - West Five public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: A former employee at this pub recalled how staff would see someone walking through the bar out of the corner of their eye, even though the area would be empty. The same event would also occur in the cellar.

Charlotte Foster, as sketched by William Richmond

Tall Lady

Location: W6 - Beavor Lodge (no longer standing, replaced with Linden House), Beavor Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: Appearing at random times of the day and night, this tall grey lady could also be heard crying. The second wife of painter William Blake Richmond encountered the phantom, while a model working for Richmond claimed the artist's first wife Charlotte opened the door and let her in, only discovering later that Charlotte had died many years previous.

Rowing Boat

Location: W6 - Hammersmith Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 18 October 1975, 23:45h
Further Comments: Retired policeman Bill Fergusson and another witness watched as a crewless rowing boat paddle into the bridge where it vanished. The oars could be seen and heard moving unaided, and a red light flickered at the front of the boat.

Monk

Location: W6 - Holy Trinity church, Brook Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1896
Further Comments: Father White claimed to have seen a ghostly monk enter the church on more than one occasion. The Father's servant and curates had also spotted the entity.

Edwardian Girl

Location: W6 - Private residence, Batoum Gardens
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1957
Further Comments: An exorcism performed on the site to rid the occupant from a ghostly male figure resulted with the entity being replaced with the ghosts of an old man and an Edwardian girl. A former resident of the property claimed to have awoken to find a shadowy man standing over her who suddenly vanished.

Tall Man with Fire for Eyes

Location: W6 - St Paul's Churchyard, Queen Caroline Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: 03 August or July, prior to midnight, every fifty years (next in 2055)
Further Comments: First seen in 1805, the original witness is said to have died of shock shortly after seeing the towering figure whose eyes gleamed with fire. Since then, no further reports have emerged, other than mistaken identities.

Working Children

Location: W7 - Hanwell Community Centre (previously the Old London Work House School), Hanwell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom sounds of youngsters laughing and crying can be heard from time to time, but only by other children.

Osterley, circa 1902.

Lady in White Dress

Location: W7 - Osterley, Osterley Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: This entity was seen several times by a group of school children as they were shown around the buildings. The main staircase and the tapestry room are said to be hotspots.

Plate Tossing

Location: W7 - Private residence, Boston Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1971
Further Comments: Plates were thrown around and a fire started which could have killed the occupants if not caught in time. One witness spotted the ghostly form of a fifty-year-old man. A priest banished the entity.

Earl of Holland

Location: W8 - Holland Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1965
Further Comments: The building was given to General Fairfax as a 'thank you' present after he executed the Earl of Holland - the Earl was less than happy with this arrangement, and his ghost continues to protest at the injustice.

Little Girl

Location: W8 - Kensington Church Street, house along
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A house along this road is reportedly haunted by a little girl in a long petticoat and pinafore. One witness said she resembled Alice in Wonderland.

Dancing Wig

Location: W8 - Kensington Market (demolished 2001)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 26 August 1968
Further Comments: Stallholder Patsy Dorett claimed that six wigs on a shelf flew into the air and danced around. A newspaper reported that this incident ended two months of peace, before which a poltergeist had caused issues around the site.

A portrait of George the Second.

George II

Location: W8 - Kensington Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: George II has been seen looking out of a palace window at the weathervane, waiting for a message from Hanover. Another ghost, thought to be Sophia (aunt of Queen Victoria), can be heard operating an old spinning wheel late at night and the final entity takes the form of a man wearing breeches and walks around the courtyard.

Hatless Man

Location: W8 - London Wall, Kensington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1907
Further Comments: The witness to this ghost sighting gave only a brief description, of a man in dark clothes who did not wear a hat(!), though said he came from and disappeared into a hole in the wall which ceased to exist the following morning.

Lights Switching

Location: W8 - Natural History Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: The lights have been known to switch themselves on and off in the Entomology Library, while doors are locked and unlocked by an unseen hand. The Waterhouse building is also said to be haunted, this time by a phantom woman.

Hands

Location: W9 - Maida Vale Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Although said to be haunted, details of the entity at this station are fleeting - a phantom is said to appear late at night, while hands are said to be 'felt' on the escalator.